It was now midafternoon and everyone was gathered around the fire Adi had built, sharing in the deer that Xerxes had gotten. Damia had taken a seat next to Adi, as expected, so Elric had thought to take a seat on her open side. As he approached, Alf sat down beside her before Elric could take the spot. Annoyed, he went over to sit by Castor.
"I'm her betrothed, yet she feels it more appropriate to sit with those two."
Castor had never heard the Prince speak in such a manner. He stifled a laugh. "If I might remind you, that is just a story, is it not? Perhaps she has not fully registered what that means or how she should act."
Elric sighed, "Perhaps you're right. I had thought this was the perfect way to ease her into the truth of our situation, but it seems that regardless of my supposed position in her life, Adi is under the impression that I am actually her brother, and this Alf fellow seems to have taken to her rather quickly. Even if they weren't in the picture, Xerxes seems to be rather interested in her as well. This is all one big horrible mess."
Castor had been assigned as head of Elric's personal guard only recently, but he and Elric had always trained together since he became a squire. Over time, he came to be Elric's confidant and the only living person to know the truth behind Elric and Damia's relationship. He knew Elric was not truly Damia's brother, but that he still cared about her dearly.
---
The fire was burning softly. Everyone had enjoyed their meal and were now resting. Alf and Alcippe had each set up their own barriers to sense potential intruders approaching so no one needed to stay up and keep watch. Even with that, Damia was having trouble sleeping. She looked around and noticed everyone seemed to be deeply sleeping so she decided to grab her bag and walk out of the cave.
Outside the cave, Elric had laid a log to sit on earlier, and she decided to use it now. Sitting down, she reached into her bag and search for the journal she had taken from Elric's room. She figured it was a matter of time before Elric found out about it and would take it away, but she needed to read it just once before that happened.
As she continued searching her bag, she began to feel panic. It was no longer there. She couldn't feel it among any of the clothes she had inside. She kept rumaging around and then finally her hand came in contact with a book-like item. She pulled it out, but to her dismay, it was the one with the story of the man.
She intended to put it back in her bag and continue with her search when someone pulled the book out of her hands.
"Is this the book that started this whole thing?"
Looking in the direction of the voice, Damia realized that Elric had taken the book from her hands. She feared he would not be able to see the pages either, just as Adi had been unable to read the story, so she quickly reached to take it back, but he predicted her movements and moved out of her reach.
Flipping through the pages, he noticed that they were all blank, except one. The only page he could see was that of a map showing what looked to be the forest they were in now, with a path directing to a nearby village.
"I thought there was a story within this book? That's the reason you're on this mission."
"You can't see it either?" Damia spoke in a low, soft voice.
"What do you mean?"
"When I found the book, some pages were blank, yes, but not all. I showed it to Adi, and he wasn't able to see anything."
Elric pondered this for a moment. "That's rather odd. I only said I don't see a story, but I do see this map." He showed the book pages to Damia and she was able to see that it was the same map she had seen when she first started walking through the forest.
"That's the map we're following to the nearby village. I'm hoping to find some answers there."
Elric handed the book back to Damia. "If that's the case, I'm familiar with this village. We'll head there first thing in the morning. The night is meant for sleeping, we should head back into the cave and rest while we can. It's still a long way to get to the village, and with a party as large as ours, finding accomodations won't be easy. Let's go."
He barely gave Damia enough time to process what he was saying, let alone to grab her belongings before he was holding on to her wrist, and gently guiding her back into the cave. He took her bag from her and laid it back with her other personal items, then let her lay back on the bedding she had laid out for herself.
Damia had lost the window of opportunity to read the journal so she conceded to Elric's suggestion of sleeping. Covering herself with her blanket, she noticed that Elric was sitting against the wall, a respectable distance away from where she would lay her head to rest.
"Shouldn't you be sleeping as well?" She whispered.
"I will, shortly. For now, I'll just sit here and make sure that sleep finds you first." He whispered back. He fought the urge to tuck a loose strand of her hair back, and leaned his head back to rest on the cave wall.
It wasn't long before Damia had fallen asleep, but Elric stayed up a bit longer. He reached into the hidden pocket in his cloak and pulled out a journal. While Damia had been distracted by Adi and Alf, Elric had taken the opportunity to retrieve it. He made it look like he was just organizing her belongings so no one would suspect anything of his actions.
Staring at the leather-bound book, Elric fell deep into thought. "Soon, I'll need to come clean to you. I know you must be furious that I have kept this from you, but right now is not the time for you to find out anything contained within these pages. I promise, soon I'll reveal the truth, but please give me time to win your trust first. In order to protect you, I was forced to ignore you and keep a distance between us. I'll help you unlock your full powers and then you'll see that even if I'm not your brother, I'm still worthy to stand beside you."
Elric sighed, placed the book back into his pocket and then glanced at Damia one last time before laying to rest himself.